Page 97 of Drop Dead
The story about Dot Voline and John Wilson.
***
Wes’s antennae were so attuned to other people’s moods he knew something was wrong before he turned to Nadine with the two bottles in his hands. He could feel it, a pressure on his skin that made him prickle with dread.
Nadine sat at the table in front of his laptop. She wasn’t looking at him, but her eyes were dancing over the screen and her finger scrolling as she read.
He relaxed when he realized it was only his Dot Voline notes. That was fine. He’d been in the middle of writing up his thoughts to make his pitch to Jason, despite Tyler’s indifference. So why did he have this feeling he’d done something wrong?
When she finally raised her face, it was with a look of utter betrayal. “What is this?” she asked.
He put the wine down, unsure of what was going on. It was obvious what she was looking at, so the question had the feeling of a trap. “My notes on what we’ve found,” he said.
“I can see that.”
He was more baffled. “Then why are you asking? I went to theSpearto pitch the story about Dot and John Wilson.”
Nadine’s eyes, always big, went as huge as an anime character. She looked as if she couldn’t believe her ears. “You absolute asshole. You were going to go behind my back about this? We agreed we wouldn’t say anything yet.”
“What?” This made no sense. “We talked about it last night.”
“At no point did I say,Yes, green light to talk to editors.I said the opposite. Theopposite.”
“That is not what happened at all.” Wes was angry now, matching her energy and turbocharging it with a big dose of unfairness. “You knew I was going to talk to theSpear.”
“No, you said youwantedto tell them, and I said no. The exact word, no. I said we didn’t have enough information yet. We didn’t have any proof! How could you? You said you were going by theSpearto check in.” Nadine stood up so violently, the backs of her knees knocked the chair over. She cursed as she snatched it into place.
A little doubt rose in him. Had she said that? He could have sworn they’d agreed they had different approaches but he was good to go. Right? Or had he heard what he wanted to hear? Being unsure led to feeling defensive. “We have enough for me to pitch the story. There’s no need for you to be so upset. It’s no big deal.”
He knew this was a mistake the second he said it.
“No big deal.” Nadine’s eyes narrowed. “You were trying to get the jump on me. You were trying to scoop me the way you thought I did to you. I should have known you wouldn’t be able to get over me getting the best of you all these years.”
His defense shifted to offense, because that was untrue, and it was unfair of her to bring up the past. “Is that what you think of me? We talked about that. We resolved it.”
“I thought we did, but I guess I was wrong.”
“I don’t need to scoop you.”
She shoved her hair back. “Why, because I’m such a loser at theHeraldyou don’t think they’d take the story anyway?”
Wes spread his hands, trying to follow her train of thought. “What the hell, Nadine? I never said that.”
“You don’t need to.” Her fingers on the back of the chair looked like claws, and he saw her chest rise with a deep, deliberate breath.
Wes glared at her. “Stop that,” he said.
“Stop what? Breathing?”
“That big I’m-so-patient breath you take when I’m irritating you.”
Her arms came up to cross in front of her chest. “Wes, I’m not breathing at you, for God’s sake. Quit jumping down my throat!” She stood straighter. “I should have known better than to trust you. You were using me to get the story. I bet you wanted to try to use it to get into theHeraldsince you failed at theSpear.”
Wes knew it was his job to de-escalate this fight. It was always his job to apologize first, even if he did nothing wrong. But he couldn’t. The injustice of her accusation and its sheer meanness made him livid. All the feelings of the day rose up and burst out. All the feelings of hislife.
“I was using you? You seriously think I want to take your job? You’re barely holding on to it, so it wouldn’t be hard. If I want to write that damn story and run it in lights along the CN Tower, I can. I worked with you because it was easier. That’s it. Jesus, you’re being ridiculous.”
The words echoed in the kitchen as Nadine stared at him. Between them, a deep silence grew and spread.
